What would ‘John Wayne, American’ do?

So let me get this right. The United States has had 325 mass shootings so far in 2015 according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which is literally one per day (today is the 322nd day of 2015). This country is a shooting gallery for every mentally ill and emotionally disturbed individual exercising their “Second Amendment remedies” against their fellow citizens. This does not even include those shot in the daily carnage of gang violence or other violent crimes, or suicides.

Americans barely bat an eye at this daily violence in their own country.

But 129 people are gunned down in Paris by semi-automatic weapons (according to reports, the suicide vests of the terrorists only blew themselves up, and one elderly man at the soccer stadium. A full account of how the Paris terror attack shootings), and Americans freak out and go into a panic? Who are you people? You live with this kind of gun violence every day.

Would “John Wayne, American” be pissing in his boots out of fear of women and children refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism? Hell no! The Duke would be the first to defend and to protect these innocent victims of war and terrorism, and then he would mount up and go after the bad guys who caused them harm.

When America is at its best, this is what we do. It is who we are. It is our national identity. We have rode to the rescue of the downtrodden and the oppressed the world over.

But Paris immediately became a cause célèbre for Tea-Publicans and the conservative media entertainment complex to demonize all Syrian refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism as a “fifth column” of Jihadist terrorists. Panic! Be afraid! They’re comin’ to kill you! Sharia law! They appeal to our darkest demons when America is at its worst: ignorance, fear, and hatred of “others” born of nativism, racism, and religious bigotry.

Republicans (76 percent) are especially likely to say Islam is at odds with American values, as are white evangelicals (73 percent) and white working-class Americans (67 percent), two important Republican voting blocs.

While many Americans curl up in a ball in a hole in the wall out of fear and panic and want to reject Syrian refugees, France is doing just the opposite, increasing the number of refugees it will take to 30,000 over the next two years — three times the number that the U.S. has agreed to take — after the Paris terrorist attack. After Attacks, France Increases Its Commitment To Refugees.

Remember how conservatives always joked about the French being “cheese eating surrender monkeys” too afraid to fight? You don’t see the French (other than its anti-immigrant right-wing conservatives) putting aside human compassion and cowering out of fear and panic to demonize refugees. These cowardly Americans should be ashamed of the lack of human compassion and cowardice they are currently demonstrating. They should not call them self an American, they are not worthy of the title.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says there are more than 4 million registered Syrian refugees. It’s data shows that 50.5 percent of refugees are women. Females age 18 to 59 make up 23.9 percent of the refugees, while males in that age group make up 21.8 percent. Even younger males — age 12 to 17 — represent 6.5 percent of refugees, while females that age are 6.1 percent. The majority of refugees — 51.1 percent — are under age 17, including 38.5 percent who are younger than 12 years old.

Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in March 2011, the United States has taken in about 2,000 refugees from Syria. Last year, Syrians made up only two percent of the 70,000 refugees admitted, according to the New York Times. Of the 18,000 referred refugees cases from the United Nations High Commissioner for possible resettlement (of which the U.S. is taking 10,000) more than 50% are 18 years of age or younger.

“The United States has resettled 784,000 refugees since September 11, 2001,” Newland wrote in a recent op-ed. “In those 14 years, exactly three resettled refugees have been arrested for planning terrorist activities—and it is worth noting two were not planning an attack in the United States and the plans of the third were barely credible.”

Two of the men were indicted and jailed for plotting to send weapons to terrorist organizations in Iraq. One Uzbek man was convicted of terrorism-related charges for possessing explosives and supporting a terrorist organization in Uzbekistan. [ Zero Syrians have faced charges related to terrorism.]

While it’s of course discomforting that three people who were granted refugee status in the U.S. went on to support terrorist activities, their actions are hardly a noteworthy stain on the record of the U.S.’ refugee resettlement program.

This is particularly true when considered in the proper context at the beginning of this post about the level of violence from home grown “terrorists” in this country.

President Obama said, “I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric coming out of here in the course of this debate. They’ve been playing on fear to score political points or to advance their campaigns and it’s irresponsible. It needs to stop because the world is watching.”

The Blue Meanie is an Arizona citizen who wishes, for professional reasons, to remain anonymous when blogging about politics. Armed with a deep knowledge of the law, politics and public policy, as well as pen filled with all the colors stolen from Pepperland, the Blue Meanie’s mission is to pursue and prosecute the hypocrites, liars, and fools of politics and the media – which, in practical terms, is nearly all of them. Don’t even try to unmask him or he’ll seal you in a music-proof bubble and rendition you to Pepperland for a good face-stomping.
Read blog posts by the infamous and prolific AZ Blue Meanie here.

4 COMMENTS

I have given this subject a great deal of thought and research, and I have changed my position on it. I am no longer opposed to allowing refugees to enter the United States. President Obama may now breath a sigh of relief. ;o)

I changed my mind after researching the steps that will be taken to screen the refugees before they arrive here as well as the track record of those who have already come here. AZbm is correct in his assessment and I applaud him for making his case in such a clear and concise manner.

Although AZbm presented a good case on the refugee issue, he and are still 180-degrees out on the 2nd Amendment…I think…actually I am not certain what AZbm’s position on the 2nd Amendment is, but I suspect we are at odds on the subject.

So what we need to do is fear these refugees and keep them out in order to feel safe? Meanwhile the “white” guy with his fully automatic AR is allowed to trot around the airport unchallanged. I get it, he is okay cuz he isn’t Syrian. For a minute I was confused.

the voters time and again vote against elitist liberals who support strict gun control laws. president obama is president because he ignored the gun grabbers until after his re-election. try running in arizona on a platform of strict gun control. get rid of guns or get rid of elitist liberal gun grabbers who do you think the people of arizona would vote to get rid of?